مجموعة ١٨/٥ "المسار الجوي إلى الهند (الساحل العربي): استخدام المهابط من قبل طائرات أجنبية" [ظ‎‎١‎٨] (١٠٩٠/٣٦)

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In September last the Government of India proposed
that some kind of war-time agreement might be obtained from p i
K.L.M. or the Netherlands Government whereby, in return r* 2 .
for permission to land on the Arab shore of the Persian
Gulf, the K.L.M# would agree to make their aircraft available
when required for the carriage of troops or other Government
purposes, e.g* priority passages. This proposal was put to the
Dutch Government in October, though not in a form which made
the grant of permission to land on the Arab coast specifically 0 #
dependent upon the conclusion of an agreement of the kind r s.s/n /<fo
contemplated. When (apparently in connection with the
recent troubles in Iraq) it was suggested to the Government
of I n dia that they should agree forthwith to the operation of
regular Dutch services along that coast in war-time until & It
further notice, the Government of India objected on the ground ^
that such agreement would throw away the most valuable lever p-*. w*,
for inducing the Dutch to conclude the war-time agreement.
The Air Ministry took a similar line. In these circumstances
the Foreign Office were asked to tell the Dutch that, pending
the entry into force of the war-time agreement, the existing
arrangement would be continued whereby K.L.M. are granted
individual permi£s*a for weekly landings at Bahrain and Sharjah.
The Foreign Office letter of June 10th below reports
that the Nettherlands Legation have stated that, although they ,
are not in a position to meet fully the requirements of H.M.G. 6 fr*-
they are anxious to co-operate with them where possible; and /
they therefore hope that permission will be given for K.L.M.
to operate via the Persian Gulf without the cbnplusion of a
war-time agreement being insisted upon.
•' V * \ \
A telegram of the same date from the Government of
India (Communications Department) urges the early conclusion
of an agreement for the establishment of an additional K.L.M.
service on the Palestine-Singapore section of the air route;
and recommends for this purpose the withdrawal of the demand .... .
for the right to commanded K.L.M. aircraft for the carriage ' *
of troops. Although I do not think that the purpose of the
v/ar-time agreement has ever been expressed so && aj
to include the ^commandeering” of aircraft, the. concession
which the Government of India are now prepared to make seems
to remove the ve&apu which the proposed agreement was designed
to secure.
This morning Sir Francis Shelmerdine came to see Mr.
Croft and left with him the attached copy of a telegram
from K.L.M, Batavia,to the B.O.A.C. This shows that the
Netherlands Government has granted permission for the
introduction of a second service on the Singapore-Palestine
section; though it appears that this service cannot start
until standing permission is given for^operation along the
Arab coast. Sir Francis Shelmerdine said that the
Air Ministry were now anxious that such pemission should be
given.
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It therefore seems that we should telegraph to the
External Affairs Department giving them a strong lead^in
favour of withdrawing the objections expressed in theA.telegram
of May 13th. A draft follows.
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